Dental floss has been recommended by dental professionals as a necessity for maintaining optimal dental hygiene. If properly used, it can prevent the onset of gum disease such as gingivitis or cavity in those flossed areas.
Typically, a dental floss has a floss, which when in use is stretched at least in a partial section in a taut state so as to allow a scraping motion of the tautly stretched portion across a surface of a tooth. The scraping motion loosens debris on the dental surface, usually removing the debris from the flossed section and leaving the surface in a cleaner state. The removal of the debris results in better hygiene.
However, its acceptance by the general public has been limited, even after decades of warnings from dental associations. People find proper flossing tedious, uncomfortable and difficult. To reach and adequately floss all the necessary places with the floss requires time, manual dexterity and discipline. Electromechanical devices, developed thus far to make flossing an easier and more conducive task, have been shown by research to be inferior than conventional manual flossing, further to the relative disadvantage of significantly high cost.
As shown by the art in this field, many attempts have been made to make flossing more acceptable.